'Kong' is an entertaining monster film with many positives to it and even though nothing will ever top the 1933 original, this film is a fun product of its time that many will likely forget within a few years (until 2020 when 'Kong vs Godzilla' of course). The film takes place in the 1970's after the end of the Vietnam war in which a research team and a cavalry accompanying them are attacked by the titular Kong after napalming his territory (what did they think would happen?) and are now lost and separated into groups within the dangerous and vast Skull Island.
The movie's cast is good and they all do their jobs well, however they are not developed beyond basic tropes and cliches and some characters such as Brie Larson's seem completely unnecessary. It's nothing against Larson or the others, I would have loved to see more of her but the film doesn't utilize her beyond 'blonde woman that Kong likes' as if they had a checklist but forgot to put any of it into context. While for the most part the characters are stock, with the exception of John C. Riley's who was by far the best in the whole film you at the very least care for them...for a while.
I know this is not what you come for when it comes to a monster movie, but you should at least establish something interesting about these characters so that I care whether or not they become food for the inhabitants of Skull Island and very few of them provide that to the point where it seemed they randomly kill off a character just because they suddenly had too many people for the climax scene.
I love the cinematography and look of the film, it's very well shot and gives an authentic 70's feel when possible such as 8mm home movie footage and photography as well as the many tunes playing throughout. The film despite staying in the same area for most of the film still feels as if it has better variety than other monster flicks. The creatures in the film are much more creatively thought out and put together than 2014's 'Godzilla' film, which was one of the biggest disappointments of that film. Here we get some unique and very sinister creatures with some almost looking like something out of 'Princess Mononoke' which was a plus in my book.
Speaking of 'Godzilla' I feel that 'Kong' contains the exact same problems that held that film back from being a better film overall. These films seem like they're too busy focusing on the humans and not showing off enough action or monster fights which is what we come for if you're a big fan of the genre like myself. Toho has always gotten this formula right and shown enough of the humans for the story to move along, but still give us plenty of the goods when it comes to Kaiju fights.
And when you put that together with what I stated earlier, it really drags 'Kong' down for me. I enjoyed the film for what it was and it had a lot of things to enjoy about it, but there's just something not right here. It feels like they just want to rush everything in order to establish the now popular 'Shared Universe' trend started by Marvel Comics. Just like everyone else however, the 'Monster' universe is trying to catch up too quickly when it should take it easy. We can love both universes Warner Bros. you don't have to shove out movies every year to satisfy us.
I still recommend 'Kong: Skull Island' for at least one viewing as its great popcorn entertainment. However, it's just not what I was expecting from such a talented crew and cast and overall the many flaws just leave it feeling average.
KONG: SKULL ISLAND
(C+)
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